Taming Fire (Braving the Heat #2) Page 2

  “Good.” Without taking his eyes off her, Nix spoke to the rest of his crew, “Let’s roll.”

  At his command, the men funneled through the broken gate, leaving him to follow at the end.

  “Do you have a dog?” Nix asked while stepping closer to her as they walked to the gate.

  “Dog? No, why do you ask?” her voice sounding curious.

  “I didn’t know if you needed me to secure this before we leave,” Nix gestured to the opening leading to the front yard. “What’s your name?”

  “Oh.” She looked flustered when she realized that they had never been introduced but gave him a small smile and held out her hand. “Louise…my name is Louise, but friends call me Lou.”

  “Louise,” Nix rumbled, testing the name out loud. Shaking her hand, he noted how small it felt in his own, small and soft.

  “Yep.” Louise smiled when they simply continued to stare at one another. The backyard was empty now except for the two of them. The lights that had previously been flashing over the trees had been turned off, leaving the pair illuminated by her dwindling fire.

  “I’m Nix,” he said in a gruff voice.

  A look of surprise flashed over her face. “Nix? Is that even a real name?”

  “It sure is, darlin’,” he answered with a grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Louise.” Nix brushed his knuckles over her cheek, cocking his eyebrow when her face flamed red.

  He turned around before he let the smile that was wanting to break free take over his face. That blush was almost enough to make him sit and beg for what she had hidden underneath those clothes.

  When was the last time he had witnessed an honest to goodness blush from a woman? He was used to making their bottoms burn red from a good spanking, but he couldn’t recall the last time he saw a grown woman blush from a simple touch.

  He was intrigued. No, he was more than intrigued. He was hooked.

  Nix walked to the firetruck thinking about the woman he was determined to get to know. So far, he knew that the caller wasn’t her kid, but instead her nephew. She didn’t have any pets. She was built like one of those classic pinups that you saw in the old-timey gas stations. And most importantly, she was just as attracted to him as he was to her by the look in her eyes.

  “Hey man, we didn’t know if you were going to be coming back to the station tonight,” one of the guys joked as Nix climbed into his seat on the truck.

  Flipping him off, Nix didn’t even give him a second thought as he glanced back at Louise’s house. She had a pretty nice set up. Her home was in one of the better areas of Larryville. A neighborhood not overrun with students, but instead filled with older families, which was something that you didn’t see much of anymore in their small college town. She obviously took care of her place too. The front was landscaped prettily with no sign of neglect. She even had a couple Halloween decorations out around the front door.

  “Back to the station?” Billy asked, before moving forward with the large truck.

  “Yeah, I’m starving,” Nix answered, his mind on the morning to come.

  “She was nice,” Leo pointed out as he tilted his head back to rest against the headrest. “She seemed a little bit drunk, but still nice.”

  “She was.” Nix nodded, watching the house disappear while he felt Leo’s eyes on him.

  “Jazz wanted to know if you were going to come by for the barbecue on Sunday?” Leo asked, obviously feeling the need to pester him.

  “Sure,” Nix replied. “Do I need to bring anything?”

  “Nah, man.” Leo shook his head and smiled. “You know Jazz and Winter have everything covered.”

  Nix smiled thinking about Jazz, Leo’s fiancée. He was one lucky sonofabitch to have landed sweet Jasmine, and Nix would always be around to remind him of that. There had been a short period of time when Nix fancied Jasmine for himself. Who wouldn’t? She was smart, adorable as hell, gorgeous, and so fucking sweet she almost gave him a toothache just being around her. The only thing that had made him hesitate had been her innocence.

  That hesitation had allowed Leo to sweep in and steal Jazz out right from under him. Lucky bastard.

  Nix wasn’t depraved by any means, but he tended to like his sex a little more rough than the average man. He liked to be in control most of the time and that included tying up his partners when they couldn’t stay still from the pleasure he was giving them. The only problem was that he was getting tired of the same old pussy that was hanging around the fire station. He had made the rounds with a majority of the pole bunnies that tried to tag the firefighters. He saw no shame in that. He had a healthy sexual appetite, as did the women he slept with. The women knew the ropes, both literally and figuratively. They weren’t shy when it came to taking their licks when they disobeyed him and most importantly…they knew the score.

  There wasn’t a happily ever after with any of the women that he had sampled at the firehouse. Not that he held their sexual experience against them at all. That would be the pot calling the kettle black. He respected a girl who knew how to have fun and went after what she wanted. The problem with his normal line up was that they weren’t looking for anything more than the next lay. They didn’t want to settle down, and funny enough, he did. He knew it was time to let the younger guys have their fun for a while and figure out what he was looking for.

  It hadn’t taken long for him to see the light, not when he had to watch Leo and Will make kissy faces at their women all the damn time.

  No, he wanted a woman who was ready to settle down. He wanted his own version of Jasmine and Winter waiting for him at home.

  “Nix,” Leo said loudly. “You okay, man? You seemed off in your own little world for a bit.”

  Nix scrubbed his hand over his face, the exhaustion from his shift hitting him. “I’m just worn out, I didn’t have a chance to eat before the call came in, and lunch was an apple. I’m running low on fuel is all.”

  Leo nodded, leaning forward in his seat so he was resting his elbows on his knees. “I can’t wait to finish shift. Jazz has been trying out some new pies for the party on Sunday, and I get to be her guinea pig.”

  “Let me know if you need help with that,” Nix teased, knowing that there was no way that Leo would share the sweets.

  “Fuck you, man. There’s no way I’m sharing after what happened last time.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Leo glared at Nix.

  Nix couldn’t help the deep laughter that exploded from his chest at the look of anger on Leo’s face. It wasn’t his fault that the rest of the guys at the station had heard Leo offer Nix some of Jazz’s banana bread. It also wasn’t his fault when the guys decided to call Jazz up and ask for their own loafs causing her to go into a baking frenzy with all of the goodies earmarked for everyone except Leo.

  Pulling into the station, the men piled out of the truck and checked their gear. Nix hadn’t been lying when he said they had some false alarms lately. Every year the station visited local schools and went over what to do when there was a fire. The team went over the dos and don’ts with the kids, paying special attention on how to avoid smoke inhalation and checking doors for heat. Of course, there always seemed to be a few kids that got into trouble when they called into the department to report a fire…or at least what they thought was a fire. Tonight had been no different from previous false alarms.

  Well, except for one thing.

  Louise.

  He had to admit that she was probably the first Louise under eighty that he had met in his entire life. Funny enough, now that he knew her name, he wasn’t able to imagine her with a different one. His normal type had been the Tiffanys and Ambers. Every so often, he had a random Heather or Veronica thrown in the mix to keep things fresh, but never a Louise.

  Maybe that was a good thing. A sign or something that she was a step in the right direction.

  Nix walked into the station’s large kitchen. Finding that the guys had left out the fixings for subs, he was happy to note that they had at least c
losed up the bread, so it hadn’t dried out.

  While he was putting the finishing touches on his late dinner, Will walked in with two large plastic containers.

  “Would you mind taking these, so I can move stuff around in the fridge?” Will asked before thrusting the large Tupperware toward him.

  “Shit, this is heavy. Are there bricks in here or something?” Nix asked, unable to see past the colored plastic.

  “Jazz made a cola fudge cake and sent it home with Winter after their girls’ day,” Will answered. “It’s delicious, but deadly. Winter made me bring in what we had left before she, and I quote, ‘doubled the size of her ass.’”

  “Hey, there is nothing wrong with Winter’s ass,” Nix let slip out before he realized he was talking about Will’s wife. Snapping his mouth closed, he tried to look innocent as he held the containers of cake.

  “Stop looking at my wife’s ass,” Will grumped, shooting him a dark look, and taking the burden out of Nix’s arms.

  “Sorry.” Figuring it was best to change the subject quickly, Nix picked up his sub from the counter. “You eat dinner yet?”

  “Yeah, Winter dropped by some burgers from the Tinderbox earlier so I’m full.” Will leaned against the counter and relaxed for a moment. “Heard you had a false alarm.”

  Nix nodded while he chewed, once his mouth was clear he said, “Yep.”

  Will grinned at him. “A couple of the guys said that the call was a pretty little thing.”

  “She was.” Nix shrugged, not really wanting to go into detail about Louise since he wasn’t sure if anything was going to come out of it. “We broke her fence, though, getting into the backyard. I told her I would stop by and take care of it.”

  “I can have Roger go by and fix it,” Will offered. “I know you’ve had some trouble sleeping the last couple nights so you’re off the hook if you want to be.”

  Just the thought of not going to her house tomorrow caused his stomach to knot.

  “Nah, I got it,” Nix answered quickly, following his gut instinct.

  Will smiled and nodded, his expression showing that he knew what was going on with Nix even when he didn’t know himself.

  “By the way, the girls asked me to remind you that pole bunnies are not allowed at the party on Sunday.”

  Nix grimaced at the memory of the last time he had stupidly taken one of his normal fuck buddies to a party thrown by Jazz. It had started innocent enough. Nix had simply made plans with Libby before realizing that he was supposed to show up at one of their barbecues, so she tagged along. From there it had gone downhill real quick. It had ended up with a couple of the women becoming catty and hinting that the only reason Will was with Winter was because she faked a pregnancy. None of which was true, but the women had let their mouths get in the way of their good sense and made a fun night turn shitty with just a couple words. Winter and Jazz didn’t deserve any of it either. Both of the women were amazing and deserved much better than getting trash talked at their own goddamn houses.

  It hadn’t been long after that party last month that Nix had opened his eyes and realized the type of women he dated were all the same. None of them had even come close to holding a candle to his friends’ women.

  “I won’t forget.” Nix tossed his napkin across the room and hit the trashcan with little effort.

  “Good, now get some rest. Hopefully the rest of the night is quiet.” Will clapped his hand on Nix’s shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen.

  “Me too.” Nix smiled, thinking of tomorrow morning.

  Chapter 3

  Saturday mornings used to be fun. Louise would sleep until she woke up on her own, stretching and taking her time to roll out of bed. Then, on a normal weekend morning, she would either drive down and get breakfast on Mass Street or hit up Joe’s Donuts for a late breakfast.

  Unfortunately, Junior didn’t get the memo when it came to how Saturdays were supposed to go down.

  This morning she had woken up with an eerie feeling that someone was watching her while she slept. Opening her eyes, she was face to face with none other than her nephew. Her sleepy brain had to catch up to what her eyes were seeing, and the view scared the crap out of her. Barely lit by the morning sun coming through her blinds, Junior was standing beside the bed, only six inches away, staring directly into her face.

  Louise swallowed hard after almost choking to death when she bit back a scream. Seriously. This was the stuff nightmares were made of. The only thing missing was a knife in his hand as he stood in front of her in the darkened room.

  “What the fu—” Louise sat up quickly, clearing her throat. “What time is it?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t read the clock yet.” Junior shrugged and held out his hand to her.

  Louise was still trying to understand why he was in her room when she automatically took what he was handing her.

  A pack of fruit snacks.

  “I’m hungry,” Junior explained, apparently waiting for her to open the small packet.

  Louise held the packet limply, still trying to wake up. “Fruit snacks aren’t for breakfast,” she muttered while grabbing her phone off the bedside table to check the time.

  Dear Lord, it wasn’t even six in the morning yet.

  “C’mon Aunt LouLou, I’m hungry,” Junior whined, tapping the packet he wanted opened.

  “Junior, why are you up already?” Louise realized she wasn’t going to get an answer that made sense, so she just shook her head and rolled out of bed. “I need coffee.”

  “I’m starving!” Junior laid down on the floor beside her bed as if he were too weak to stand on his own.

  “You’re not starving, goofball. Give me a second to get dressed, and we can go grab some donuts. I’ll let you pick out your favorite if you can give me five minutes to get ready without whining about how hungry you are. Deal?” Without waiting for him to agree, Louise grabbed the jeans she had tossed at the foot of her bed yesterday. After finding the rest of her outfit, Louise moved into the attached master bathroom to get ready. Today was going to be a T-shirt and hoodie type of day considering the early wake-up call.

  “Do I have to get dressed?” The question came from underneath her bed. “Aunt LouLou, did you know there’s a pizza box under your bed?”

  Louise grimaced at the reminder that she was way behind on her cleaning. “Yeah, bud. I know it’s there.” She crossed her fingers while telling the small lie, feeling slightly better when she remembered that it was at least empty.

  “I found some Skittles!” Junior yelled, moving farther under her large four-poster bed.

  Louise walked over and grabbed his legs while he laughed and giggled. Tugging him gently, they both laughed when he slid smoothly on the hardwood floors that graced her house. “Yes, you need to get dressed, and no you may not have any of those.”

  “But I’m hungry.” Standing up, Junior hid his hands behind his back, hiding the bag of candy he now wanted to eat.

  “Gimme,” Louise demanded, raising one eyebrow in what she hoped looked like a don’t-mess-with-me face.

  “Fine.” Junior gave up his booty, looking as if he were going to cry at any moment.

  “How about this, you go and put on your Batman footie pajamas, grab your mask, and I’ll let you wear that to go to the donut shop.”

  Louise could literally see Junior’s brain working to see if the deal she was offering was worth not getting any candy this morning. He must have realized that his aunt was serious, and this was the best offer he was going to get, since he nodded once, spun on his heel, and hightailed it to his temporary room. Louise had often been stricter with him than any of their other family members, and, funny enough, Junior responded positively to it. The poor kid needed structure, and she was determined to give it to him…at least until her brother came back.

  Gathering her hair up and off her back, Louise pulled it up into a messy bun at the back of her head noting the dark circles under her eyes. She dropped her head back feeling e
very bit as tired as she looked. She really needed to cut back on her wine consumption.

  She couldn’t tell if the lingering headache she felt was from the wine or the fact that she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for the past two weeks.

  “Aunt LouLou! I can’t find my mask!”

  “Of course you can’t,” Louise mumbled, making her way down the hall. Crossing her fingers that this was the only snag they ran into before heading to the bakery, she knew she was probably hoping for too much.

  She had been right.

  Louise had been a fool to think that taking a four-year-old to a bakery before seven on a Saturday morning was a good idea.

  Slamming the car door, Louise stood outside taking a moment to breathe deep, and trying her damnedest not to recap what had happened in such a short span of time.

  This kid was lucky that she loved him so damn much or else she would have driven straight from the bakery to her parents’ house for the shenanigans that he had pulled at one of her favorite places in the world.

  First, Junior had started to fall asleep in the car on the way to the donut shop, which Louise was having none of. There was no way that little terror was going to enjoy a nap after he woke her up while it was still dark outside. Reaching into the back seat, Louise had to resort to tickling his legs to keep the little booger awake during the quick drive. From stretching her arm back at such a weird angle, she was pretty sure that she had pulled a muscle in her shoulder since it now burned as if the flames of hell had taken up residence on her shoulder blade.

  Then, once they had walked into the bakery, Junior had announced to everybody that he had to poop. Not only that, but he had to poop NOW. It was at that loud screech that Louise realized she forgot his special wipes at the house. Figuring that he would just have to deal with it, she had taken him to the bathroom and had him do his business. Once done, she tried not to gag as she proceeded to wipe him clean with what he claimed felt like paper towels, while he yelled at her for forgetting the wipes.